Monthly Archives: January 2015

During the last four months of 2014, people from 144 countries visited this website, fbmeltd.com, from around 58,000 discrete users, clicking on close to 600,000 occasions. This covers the period from 7 September 2014 when the website was put back up after suffering a hacking attack, until the end of the year. The earlier period prior to the attempted denial-of-service assault, from the launch in the middle of August to early September, appears to have attracted as many as another 100,000 hits, it is believed.

The arbitral tribunal has been agreed upon at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris with arbitrators appointed by the owners of FBME Bank, the Republic of Cyprus and a chairman for the tribunal. One of the first tasks for these arbitrators is to look at the urgent issue of damages for actions taken by the Central Bank of Cyprus’ Administrator since the filing for arbitration was accepted by the ICC on 28 October 2014.

As part of its undertaking to FinCEN, FBME Bank has implemented new ‘refresher’ training for employees that reflects its commitment to implementing tight controls at all times. The new training enhances the already strong training and compliance controls of the Bank. The focus is principally on policies dealing with anti money laundering, know-your-customer, counter terrorist financing and economic sanctions.

On 21 January, a meeting was held in Washington DC between FBME Bank representatives and the US Department of the Treasury’s FinCEN bureau. The purpose was to discuss further the FinCEN Notice of Finding (NOF) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), published in the Federal Register on 22 July 2014, and FBME Bank’s response to the concerns outlined in the Notices.

Employees of FBME Bank and FBME Card Services dug deep in December by donating food and other items for needy families in the bank’s annual Family Parcels initiative. In addition to food, employees collected clothing, bedding and other household items, while others made cash donations which went to purchase goods. Families in need are identified by staff initiative.